Anyway, Politico Mafioso, which is of a conservative Republican bent (though not of the loony right variety), revealed that Willems did some work for the Phoenix Property Rights Coalition, a group that up until earlier this year was protesting and opposing the construction of a Mormon temple in North Phoenix.

"When our neighborhood concerns regarding a zoning change were ignored by our elected officials, we turned to Summit to help us refer the Phoenix City Council's decision to the ballot. In less than 20 days, Summit was able to supplement our volunteer signature effort by collecting almost 9,000 signatures from Phoenix residents.

"The City Clerk validated the signatures and certified the referendum which forced the City Council to reconsider and ultimately rescind the zoning change. Summit Consulting was professional, organized and thorough, delivering ahead of schedule and under budget. They exceeded our expectations."

According to reports from both the Arizona Republic and Fox 10 news, protests of the temple site by activists involved a giant blow-up gorilla and a huge banner referring to the future house of worship as "the temple of ill will."

"We are going to keep protesting," Anderson told the Republic when it reported on the activists' hijinks. "Even if they go forward with building the temple, we will protest the groundbreaking, dedication ceremonies and any and every event that comes. We have neighbors who want to chain themselves to the bulldozer. We will ensure that the temple remains a sore spot with them and an example of what happens when they do not respect the concerns of the surrounding neighborhood."

As you might expect, many Mormons across the Valley were upset with these protests, and those in Legislative District 18 may not be too happy to discover that Pearce, who is LDS as is his recall rival Jerry Lewis, has employed a man who also worked closely with the PPRC and took a boatload of cash from the group.

I contacted Willems via Facebook. He told me that his involvement with the PPRC was merely as a signature-gatherer.

"That was a zoning case that had nothing to do with religion," he wrote. "It was an issue of architecture. The two parties resolved their differences and last I heard the Temple was under construction. I think the Lewis camp is desperate. And Jeff Vath should go back to playing World of Warcraft."

Vath is the Republican whose blog Politico Mafioso broke the story, you see.

I asked Willems about PPRC's reported protest activities. He claimed no knowledge of them.

"I was not part of any `ill will' or `gorilla' thing (that's news to me)," he replied. "I collected the requisite number of signatures and that was the extent of my involvement."

Well, that and cashing those whopping checks. As for Willems' cheap shot at Vath, Vath should simply take that as evidence that he's gotten underneath Willems' weirdly thin skin.

Naturally, Willems doesn't like what Politico Mafioso has reported, but the facts are just as plain as that fat, yellow snake around Willems' neck above.